Mama gave me a much-appreciated mental health day today, so I went out and got a bunch of stuff done on the Scout. My main goal was to get the bumper sanded and prepped for paint. It’s been a few months since I mounted it, and the bare metal has been indoors for all but two rainshowers. I took the swingarm off and attacked it with a wire wheel and flap sander:
Then, after I’d got into every crevice and crack I could reach with the angle grinder, I hit all the welds, oblique angles, and areas I couldn’t reach with POR-15.
While I had the brush in hand, I coated the frame reinforcements and a bunch of other small areas that needed attention, as well as the shoulder belt mounts that were welded in to the rollbar.
After that had set and tacked for a few hours, I hit the whole thing with etching primer:
Then, because I had the time, I did a bunch of small projects that were on the list, including a set of new wires and plugs (something I’ve been meaning to do since I bought the truck). This is what I ended up with:
They’re Champions. I replaced them with Autolite 85s. I’ll be curious to pull a few next spring and see how they look compared to these. The wire set I used was Belden/Federal Mogul 700259, and it was perfect.
I drilled four holes for the front legs of the rollbar and put in new grade 8 bolts. Luckily, with all of the hardware I’ve been purchasing over the last year, I had exactly the bolts, washers, and nuts I needed without going out to the store.
Finally, I did some exploratory surgery on the driver’s door to see how/if I could mount the OEM mirror I have sitting on the shelf. The measurements I took for Mike don’t line up with what I’ve got at all; the plate welded to the inside of my doorskin is shorter than the one on my spare in the garage, and mounted rearward by about 4″. So I’ve got two options: a new set of Ranger mirrors like Mr. Scout has, or drilling and tapping a new hole in the plate and one in the door for the mirror I’ve got. Either way, I’m going to have to skim some Bondo over the holes from the old one.
Update: Peer Pressure was running choppily and the exhaust stank of oil after the tune-up, so i figured I hadn’t seated one of the plug wires properly. After work today (I drove her in three days this week) I popped the hood in the garage, grabbed my Leatherman, and reseated all eight wires. This time I pulled the rubber covers back, made sure I saw the connectors click onto the head of each plug, and pushed the cover back down. Voila. She started right up, idled smoothly, and runs better than she did before. Problem solved.